Injured Troy opts out of Offaly panel

John Troy will play no further role in Offaly's hurling championship campaign after informing manager Pat Fleury yesterday that he was dropping out of the panel for the rest of the summer. The full forward failed to train with the Offaly squad on both Monday and Wednesday and subsequently made it known to the manager that he had made the difficult decision to opt out of the panel.

"John has surrendered his race against fitness and realises that he hasn't got the level of fitness to compete at this stage of the championship," said the county's PRO Pat Teehan. "He felt the best decision at this stage would be to opt out rather than carry on without doing himself justice."

It's been a far from ideal championship run for Troy whose preparations have been greatly hampered by injury. He missed the starting line-up against Wexford on June 18th having broken a finger in the build-up and although he made an appearance in the second half, his impact was limited.

There were further problems ahead of the Leinster final meeting with Kilkenny earlier this month after Troy picked up an ankle injury. Again he made a second-half appearance as a replacement for Joe Errity but he made no impact. It has been a struggle to regain full fitness ever since and although he started against Derry in the quarter-final victory last Sunday, it was another below-par display and he was replaced in the second half after being held scoreless.

Troy has been a regular feature of the Offaly attack since making his senior championship debut in 1992 but he was also on the panel when they won the Leinster title two years previously. His role in both the All-Ireland victories of 1994 and 1998 was crucial although it was last season he earned his first All Star.

His decision will cause a selection problem for Fleury ahead of the semi-final meeting with Cork on Sunday week, especially with further reports of injury emerging from the Offaly camp. Both Conor Gath and David Franks are suffering from ankle injuries and appear to be doubtful.

Gath was the only full-forward scorer of note last Sunday after picking up three points from right corner forward and while Franks, whose damaged tendon in his ankle is deemed more serious, put up a solid display at left corner back in the Derry match, he will be a major loss if he fails to recover.

There was at least some good news in that Brian Whelahan has put his hamstring injury well behind him and has returned to full training. Whelahan was omitted from the starting line-up for the Derry match after suffering a twinge in the injury which had bothered him before although he was called into the action - rather crucially - when Derry started to cut into Offaly's lead.

Meanwhile, Westmeath will be on the hunt for a new football manager after Brendan Lowry made it known yesterday that he will not be putting his name forward for another season.

Lowry had been in charge of Westmeath for the last three years and was expected to be re-appointed for another season. However, he has informed the county board that it had been a lot of hard work with some disappointing results and it was too large a commitment to go on for another year.

It had been a difficult tenure for Lowry at certain points, especially with a six-month ban for a pitch infringement earlier this year which was later successfully appealed. There was an encouraging result against Laois in the first round of the championship before the six-point loss to Dublin in the semi-final. There is no word yet on possible candidates for his replacement.